Another Watergate scandal?; AL GORE TV!

http://www.jewishworldreview.com |WASHINGTON When we were allowed briefly to sit next
to Bill Clinton at D.C.'s Cafe Milano a couple of weeks ago, the former
president responded to one of our questions by stuffing a forkful of salmon
into his mouth and chewing thoughtfully.

"Salmon is very good," Florida cardiologist Arthur Agatston told
us. "It not only helps to prevent heart disease, it helps with losing
weight."

The reason we consulted the good doctor is that New York
magazine reveals in its upcoming issue that Clinton and his wife, Sen.
Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., are both on the latest weight loss craze,
Agatston's "South Beach Diet," also the title of a best-selling book.

The diet is big on veggies, fish and lean meat, downed with a
nice glass of wine. But forget bread, white rice and pasta -- none of which
Bill Clinton seemed to be eating that night. The mag reports: "One of our
spies overheard Bill crediting the diet when someone complimented him on
looking so good at Hillary's book party at The Four Seasons." Sen. Clinton's
office directed us to seek comment from the former president's spokesman,
Jim Kennedy. "I only comment on weighty matters," Kennedy parried.

ANOTHER WATERGATE SCANDAL?

Democratic presidential candidate Bob Graham shouldn't expect
ringing endorsements from some of the wealthy residents of the Watergate
South apartment building.

We hear that on Wednesday night several owners of luxury co-ops
in the building -- including business type Wyatt Dickerson, Prime Rib
restaurant owner C. Peter "Buzz" Beler and commercial construction mogul Jim
Clark -- were unhappy to find a garish red-white-and-blue "Graham for
President" display in their tasteful lobby.

The huge sign, draped over a table, touted a fundraiser for the
Florida senator on the 15th floor.

Counterterrorism expert Neil Livingstone, president of the
Watergate South co-op board, was said to be fielding complaints about what
one wag described as "aesthetic terrorism."

Livingstone didn't return our phone calls, but Beler told us: "I
don't think we should have political displays in the lobby. I don't know how
they got that one by." Dickerson, meanwhile, said: "It just looked really
schlocky."

AL GORE TV!

A couple of weeks ago, former vice president Al Gore, winner of
the popular vote in the 2000 election, had dinner with NBC Entertainment
President Jeff Zucker at the Italian restaurant Toscana in Brentwood, Calif.
This week, Time magazine reported that Gore is trying to launch his own
cable network to compete with conservative-dominated television outlets.
Somehow we managed to secure this schedule of proposed "Gore TV"
programming:

All Politics Is Local Department: That was Laura Bush phoning in
Thursday morning to Nantucket Television -- that is, NTV Channel 22 -- to
talk up the glories of the Massachusetts island and endorse a fundraising
drive for the Nantucket High School yearbook. The first lady dialed up the
tiny cable outlet -- which programs "community television" for the tiny
resort -- after NTV General Manager David Kuhn spotted her Monday night at
Nantucket's pricey 21 Federal restaurant and scribbled a note asking her to
be a call-in guest on the first morning show of the summer season. "She came
on for about two minutes, and she was very charming," Kuhn told us.

QUOTE

"Make no mistake: Operation Iraqi Tray Freedom was a complete
success." -- The Washington Post's Richard Leiby this week after the
Department of Homeland Security returned a copper tray -- a cheap-looking
object resembling a damaged hubcap -- given to him by retired Baghdad police
lieutenant Sabih Jassim Azzawe during Leiby's recent visit to Iraq. Federal
officials also returned 5,125 Iraqi dinars that had been confiscated, along
with the tray, by U.S. Customs agents when Leiby landed at Dulles
International Airport in Virginia last month. Leiby remitted to his
attorney, Matthew J. McConkey, 1,000 dinars (about 67 cents), to be shared
with co-counsel John M. Gurley.

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